White on the border, again UPDATE

Democratic gubernatorial contender Bill White wore both his businessman and former Houston mayor hats during the morning’s round-table with a handful of Rio Grande Valley leaders, talking police shop about radio frequencies and informant payouts and again taking a stab at GOP Gov. Rick Perry for “using the border as a prop for hysteria.”

The hour-long meeting was called by the Texas Border Coalition, which comprises mayors and business associations from the Valley to El Paso and does not make endorsements.

Hidalgo Mayor John Franz said the coalition sent Perry a similar invite and was “waiting to hear back.”

For that, Franz did not appear to be holding his breath.

TBC members have for some time been peeved about post-Sept. 11 security initiatives they feel got shoved down their throats with no thought for the effect hours-long international bridge tie-ups would have on commerce.

While they cast much of the blame on the federal government (for failing, in their opinion, to ramp up staffing and equipment to handle the initiatives), they had a handout ready for White on what the state could do.

Topping the list is using Texas Department of Transportation funds and federal “Operation Stonegarden” grants to help reconfigure and staff land ports for southbound inspections. It’s only in the past couple of years that anyone cared about people and vehicles leaving the country, but with the Mexican drug lords getting arms and profits from the north, it’s clear southbound checks aren’t going away.

For business folk, it means both sides of the border will soon be bottlenecked.

“When we learned there was an interest in inspecting southbound traffic, initially our thought was, ‘Wait a minute, don’t harass these people any more. They’re going back loaded with shopping bags. They just spent money; they’re helping us sustain jobs in our communities; let ‘em go back to Mexico. Don’t impede the exit,’” Franz said.

He said that stance had changed, especially with the past few months of nonstop gun violence, often within earshot of this side of the Rio Grande.

“I think the consensus is now, ‘You know what, we’ll put up with a little more time in inspections if that means that our country is more secure.’”

TBC also wants to see the state’s $65 million allocation for law enforcement communication systems used to coordinate the “maze” of federal, state, and local forces.

Most importantly, TBC wants respect for what McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez said was a $20 billion-per-month U.S.-Mexico border trade.

White said he was there to “listen and learn” and would as governor be committed to communicating reality. He presented no concrete plans but emphasized his experience meant he knew how to effectively market a region and deal with turf battles concerning crime intelligence and the feds.

“On the one hand, you do want people who may be involved in narco-trafficking and gang-related violence to know that on this side of the border – don’t even think about it,” he said, “while at the same time, communicating effectively and consistently that this is a great place to do business and raise families and your tourists dollars are stretched and everything else.”

White was to continue his day campaigning in San Antonio and Fort Worth.

I’ve emailed the Perry campaign to see if they have a comment.

UPDATE:

Perry campaign spokesman Mark Miner meanwhile was quick to fire back on White’s “prop for hysteria” comment, which was based on Perry’s misstatements about a car bomb going off in El Paso.

“Nobody can question the unprecedented violence that is going on along our border and if Bill White doesn’t recognize that than he’s not fit to be governor,” Miner said, citing gang violence, road closures, and bullets grazing college campuses as recent examples of cross-border violence.

“Bill White’s new to the whole border issue,” Miner said. “He’s just realizing we have a border.”

He said he did not know the details of the TBC invitation but that Perry frequently met with border sheriffs and police departments.